Steve Claridge
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Stephen Edward Claridge | ||
| Date of birth | 10 April 1966 | ||
| Place of birth | Portsmouth, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Salisbury (manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Portsmouth | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1983–1984 | Fareham Town | 13 | (2) |
| 1984–1985 | Bournemouth | 7 | (1) |
| 1985–1988 | Weymouth | 110 | (28) |
| 1988 | Crystal Palace | 0 | (0) |
| 1988–1990 | Aldershot | 62 | (19) |
| 1990–1992 | Cambridge United | 79 | (28) |
| 1992 | Luton Town | 16 | (2) |
| 1992–1994 | Cambridge United | 53 | (18) |
| 1994–1996 | Birmingham City | 88 | (35) |
| 1996–1998 | Leicester City | 63 | (17) |
| 1998 | → Portsmouth (loan) | 10 | (2) |
| 1998 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 5 | (0) |
| 1998–2001 | Portsmouth | 104 | (34) |
| 2001 | → Millwall (loan) | 6 | (3) |
| 2001–2003 | Millwall | 85 | (26) |
| 2003–2004 | Weymouth | 47 | (24) |
| 2004 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 5 | (0) |
| 2004–2005 | Brentford | 4 | (0) |
| 2005 | → Wycombe Wanderers (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 2005 | Wycombe Wanderers | 15 | (4) |
| 2005 | Millwall | 0 | (0) |
| 2005 | Gillingham | 1 | (0) |
| 2005–2006 | Bradford City | 26 | (5) |
| 2006 | → Walsall (loan) | 7 | (1) |
| 2006–2007 | Bournemouth | 1 | (0) |
| 2007 | Worthing | 1 | (0) |
| 2007 | Harrow Borough | 4 | (2) |
| 2009 | Weymouth | 1 | (0) |
| 2011–2012 | Gosport Borough | 11 | (4) |
| Total | 828 | (255) | |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2000–2001 | Portsmouth | ||
| 2003–2004 | Weymouth | ||
| 2005 | Millwall | ||
| 2015– | Salisbury [1] | ||
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10:56 30/05/2015 (UTC). | |||
Stephen Edward "Steve" Claridge (born 10 April 1966) is an English football pundit, coach and former player. He was a pundit for BBC Sport football shows including Football Focus and the The Football League Show, until recently when he became both manager and a director at newly formed Salisbury.[2]
Claridge's career was known for its longevity and diversity. Born in Portsmouth, he has spent a number of periods with teams from Hampshire and Dorset, having begun his career with non-league Fareham Town in 1983. After failing to gain a permanent contract at local league club A.F.C. Bournemouth, Claridge spent three years at Weymouth, in his longest single spell with any club. From 1988 till 1996 Claridge played for a number of Football League teams, before moving to Leicester City with whom he played in the Premier League and won the 1997 Football League Cup. In 1998 he moved to Portsmouth, where he was also player manager from 2000–2001. After a spell with Millwall, he dropped down to the Southern Premier League to work as player-manager for Weymouth. After this ended in 2004, Claridge played for ten different clubs in a variety of leagues, never spending more than a season with one team. He has played at all levels of English football and has also appeared in 1000 professional or semi-professional football matches.
After formally retiring from football in 2007, Claridge moved into media work for the BBC. His experience of the Football League has been used to position him as an expert at that level, though he works across a variety of different football programmes on the BBC. After retirement he occasionally played semi-professional football for clubs in south England, most recently in 2012 for Gosport Borough.
Early years
Claridge was born in Portsmouth and grew up in Titchfield, a village near Fareham, and attended Brookfield Community School in Sarisbury Green. He was an adopted child.[3]
Claridge initially played for Fareham Town in the Southern League. He got into Football League side Bournemouth, though Claridge again stepped down the leagues after just seven games for Bournemouth to sign for Weymouth.
In October 1988 Claridge moved to Crystal Palace for a brief period before opting to join Division Four team Aldershot for season 88–89. He spent two years with the club before signing with Cambridge United for £75,000. He moved with Cambridge up into the Second Division (which later became the First Division) and stayed with the club for most of the next four years. His tempestuous relationship with manager John Beck, which was exacerbated by Claridge's gambling problems,[4] eventually led to his being sold to Luton Town for only £120,000 in March 1992. With Luton in financial difficulties however he was sold back to Cambridge, for £190,000, just five months later (Beck having left the club by this time).
In January 1994 Claridge moved to Birmingham City, for £350,000. During 1994, he became the first player since Trevor Francis to score 20 goals in a season for Birmingham. Claridge then was transferred to Leicester City for £1.2 million in March 1996. It was at Leicester that Claridge reached the Premiership, scoring winning goals in both the 1996 play-off final that gave Leicester promotion and the 1997 League Cup final replay. In 1997 his autobiography Tales From The Boot Camps, co-written with Ian Ridley, was first published.
Moves into management
In 1998 Claridge joined hometown club Portsmouth on loan and, following a brief period at Wolverhampton Wanderers, signed for Portsmouth on a permanent basis. From 2000 this was as a player-manager, though Claridge's reign lasted for just twenty-five games before he was demoted. After a period on loan with Millwall, he moved to the London club on a free transfer in 2001. He spent two seasons with Millwall before returning to Weymouth as the club's new player-manager. Weymouth just missed out on promotion to the Football Conference. Following Ian Ridley's resignation as chairman, Claridge also left to return to playing league football.
Later playing career
In his later playing career, chronologically, Claridge played for Brighton and Hove Albion, Brentford, Wycombe Wanderers, Gillingham, Bradford City and Walsall. In the summer of 2005 he was appointed as manager of Millwall, but following board-room changes he was relieved of his duties after just 36 days, before his team had played any competitive matches. His replacement was Colin Lee. The decision to dismiss Claridge was taken by new chairman Theo Paphitis,[5] who stated to the BBC that "we had a strong chance of being relegated under Steve". Millwall were indeed relegated from the Championship that season.
At the start of the 2006–07 season Claridge didn't have a club.[6] It was reported that Claridge had offered to play without payment in order to achieve the landmark of 1,000 games. Eventually in December 2006 he re-signed on a month-long contract with Bournemouth[7] and his 1,000th first-team match was a 4–0 defeat to Port Vale on 9 December, at age 40.[8]
On 16 January 2007 he signed a contract with Isthmian League Premier Division side Worthing to play in one game only, against AFC Wimbledon. The match ended in a 1–1 draw.[9]
On 30 January 2007 Claridge joined Harrow Borough and scored on his debut in a 4–4 draw against Margate.[10]
In September 2009, Claridge came out of retirement to play unpaid for his former club, the Conference South side Weymouth, who were in severe financial difficulties.[11][12]
Claridge then came out of retirement once more in October 2011 when he signed for Gosport Borough of the Southern League Division One South & West as a player-coach.[13] On 22 October 2011, Claridge scored on his début for Gosport during their FA Trophy game against Southern League side Sholing;[14] his first league goal came a week later on 29 October 2011 in a 2–1 defeat of Mangotsfield United at Privett Park [15]
On 7 May 2012, Gosport were promoted to the Southern League Premier Division courtesy of Claridge's brace of goals in the play-off final against Poole Town. Having been losing 1–0, Claridge scored a last-gasp equaliser in the first minute of injury time to send the tie to extra-time; Claridge scored Gosport's third goal in the 98th minute as they ran out eventual 3–1 winners, and returned to the Premier Division after a 22-year absence.[16]
Shortly after the playoff final, Claridge said he was contemplating retirement,[17] however he later admitted he was considering playing for a further season following Gosport's promotion.[18]
Media
During Claridge's time at Weymouth, he and Ian Ridley, who was club chairman at the time, were two of the subjects of a BBC documentary called Football Stories; he left Weymouth to begin to work in the media, initially for BBC Radio 5 Live. He works for the BBC mainly on the The Football League Show, and stated his opposition to the use of goal-line technology. He also has contributed scouting reports to The Guardian.[19]
Driving conviction
In June 2008, Claridge was convicted of dangerous driving and sentenced to six months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, after speeding at 100 mph (160 km/h) in "treacherous" conditions. He already had nine points on his licence.[20]
Honours
Managerial stats
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win% | |||
| Portsmouth | 12 October 2000 | 25 February 2001 | 23 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 21.74 |
| Weymouth | 2003 | 2004 | |||||
| Millwall | 21 June 2005 | 27 July 2005 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Salisbury | April 2015 | Present | 25 | 21 | 2 | 2 | 84.00 |
References
- ↑ Salisbury Journal - Steve Claridge and group of supporters buy the assets of Salisbury City FC http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/11646829.Steve_Claridge_and_group_of_supporters_buy_the_assets_of_Salisbury_City_FC/
- ↑ Salisbury FC www.salisburyfc.co.uk
- ↑ "Ask Steve Claridge". BBC Sport. 21 October 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
- ↑ Cambridge United – Former Player News. Cambridge-united.co.uk. Retrieved on 29 October 2011.
- ↑ Claridge sacked Evening Standard; 27 July 2005; at findarticles.com; accessed December 2006
- ↑ Thursday's football gossip BBC Sport, 8 December 2006
- ↑ Claridge ties up Cherries switch BBC Sport, 8 December 2006
- ↑ Bournemouth 0–4 Port Vale BBC Sport, 9 December 2006
- ↑ Football: It's hello and goodbye for Rebel Claridge theargus, 17 January 2007
- ↑ Match report: Harrow 4–4 Margate Harrow Borough F.C. Official Website, 3 February 2007
- ↑ Summers, Adam (3 September 2009). "Claridge is back". Dorset Echo. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
- ↑ "Claridge to revive playing career". BBC Sport. 3 September 2009. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
- ↑ "BBC football pundit Steve Claridge signs for Gosport Borough". BBC Sport. 21 October 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
- ↑ Gosport Borough Football Club - Official Site
- ↑ Gosport Borough Football Club - Official Site
- ↑ Gosport Borough Football Club - Official Site
- ↑ Great way to go as Claridge fires Boro to play-off joy - Portsmouth News
- ↑ BBC Sport - BBC football pundit Steve Claridge to retire... definitely, maybe
- ↑ Scouting report – Ryan Shawcross, Stoke City (4 March 2008).
- ↑ Driving ban for 100mph footballer BBC News, 10 June 2008
External links
- Steve Claridge career statistics at Soccerbase
- Steve Claridge management career statistics at Soccerbase
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